The Congress has hit out at former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai for his comments in a national daily that quotes him as saying that he was “pressured” by the UPA to drop certain names from his reports on the coal block allocation and the Commonwealth Games scam.
Mr. Rai’s remarks are “latest bout of his sensationalism”, Congress leader Manish Tewari said and added that “sensationalism has been a staple of the former auditor.” He also questioned why Mr. Rai did not bring these allegations to public notice while he was in office.
“Was it not his duty to bring it to public knowledge if he was pressured to include or delete a name? This has become a tradition of retired public servants to enjoy all government facilities till their tenure and then to write a book after retirement,” he said.
Mr. Rai’s book, titled ‘Not Just an Accountant’, is slated to be released next month. In an article about the book, he has been quoted as saying, “Politicians came to my home and told me not to name some people and to protect some others in connection with the CWG and coal allocation reports.”
Speaking about the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he has been quoted as saying: “See the PM is the primus inter pares or the first among equals. He has to take the last call which sometimes he did, sometime he didn’t.”
Mr. Rai said through his book, he does not aim at targeting anybody, but has “just tried to raise some basic governance issues.”
Days before the results of the national election were announced, two books – one by former Coal Secretary PC Parakh and the other by former media adviser Sanjaya Baru – described Manmohan Singh as a PM who failed to provide strong leadership and surrendered to his Congress party and its allies.
The books left the Congress that was seeking re-election despite trailing in opinion polls red-faced.
